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Five essentials for brand identity.
Once a way to distinguish a rancher’s cattle from his neighbors,’ branding is now the mainstream identity of your business, or in this case, your practice. The goal, however, is the same – to distinguish your practice and to stand out from the competition.
My goal with this article is to give your practice an understanding of what makes a brand and how to implement elements in your practice to create and maintain a successful brand.
Start with a creative brief
A creative brief is a series of questions that are asked to see what you’d like your brand to represent. Some questions might be:
- Do you want a classical or modern look?
- Which other company brands do you like?
- Who is your target audience?
- What do you want people to remember about your practice?
- Do you like funny or serious advertisements?
The creative brief is then used to develop a look and feel that will describe your practice and help you standout from your competitors.
Logos
In 1971, a little coffee house opened up in Seattle, Wash.: Starbucks. What a funny name. Where did it come from? What does the name have to do with coffee? The answer doesn’t explain the company’s success. The name came from a character in the novel Moby Dick, and it had nothing to do with coffee. At the same time, the Starbucks logo was a little strange. The original logo was brown, showing a nude, twin-tailed siren, and was meant to represent the seductiveness of their coffee. Since then, the logo has become a bit less naughty, now sporting a more modern and green version of the original twin-tailed siren. Strange as they were, the name and logo set the company apart and made them memorable.
Now consider Pepsi. They have had close to a dozen logos and just as many slogans, some of which you probably remember, such as “Take the Pepsi Challenge,” “You got the right one baby,” “The choice for the next generation,” etc. On the other hand, the world’s most recognized brand, Coca-Cola, has never gone through a logo change.
Our agency’s recommendation is to not mess with your logo too much, unless it wasn’t great to begin with or is simply outdated. Here’s the lesson: most successful businesses have a unique name and a unique logo that, whether or not it changes, stands out as a reminder of the product.
Tagline and slogans
A tagline is a short sentence that explains your brand or practice. Taglines often become permanently embedded in a company and become an essential part of the brand. Some examples in the present corporate world are “Think Different” for Apple, “We Try Harder” for Avis, “I’m Lovin’ It” for McDonalds, and “Just Do It” for Nike. In a medical practice, it’s important to have a tagline that describes you, such as “We care, you’ll see,” or “The most trusted name in vision for over 30 years.” One of the best taglines I’ve heard in medicine is from the MD Anderson Cancer Center: “Making Cancer History.” It’s a simple, three-word message that carries two very important meanings – making this one brilliant.
Slogans are slightly different from taglines. Although the difference between slogans and taglines is sometimes debated, taglines rarely change and anchor the business, whereas slogans can change with each new ad campaign. They are usually five words or fewer and are changed from time to time to promote services or products within an organization. A good example of a slogan is “Drink More Coke.”
Pick a color, please!
Colors have a lot to do with your brand and often carry a sense or feeling to those who see them. Here are a few examples of what certain colors mean:
- Blue is a color of security and trust and is probably the most overused color in medicine.
- Green is the color of wealth and wisdom and is often associated with the environment. This is the second most common color in medicine.
- Yellow is a color of optimism that complements other colors well. It is related to springtime.
- Red grabs your attention but may send unintended meanings, such as anger, sexual desire, fire, pain, etc. It is usually not recommended for ophthalmologists.
- Brown represents comfort, relaxation, home and warmth.
One of my favorite stories relating to color is about sweeteners. Sweet’N Low was introduced to the public in 1957, and when the color pink was hot (think Jackie Kennedy), Sweet’N Low made the switch to the popular color. In the 1980’s, Equal came out, and rumor has it that the name is derived from the Equal Rights Movement. The company chose blue (the exact opposite of pink) and designed the packet to stand upright. Then in 1998, a new sugar substitute, Splenda, came on the market and they chose a neutral color, yellow. It was a perfect color choice. Think about it: What color clothes do you buy for babies? Pink, blue and yellow, with yellow being the easiest and safest color choice.
So when creating or recreating your logo, try to make the colors of your logo standout, just as Splenda did.
The style guide
Have you every wondered how Apple and Starbucks keep that consistent look or how, when you see just the right color of red, you think of Coca-Cola? When we take on a new client, we create a Style Sheet for all future production projects. It includes items such as typefaces, primary colors, accent colors, white space and comparative logo specifications.
It all begins with the typeface selection. Usually we’ll know which typefaces the client would like based off of the creative brief. Normally, we’ll have no more than two options, a sans serif (e.g. Helvetica) and a serif (e.g. Times New Roman). A sans serif typeface has a more modern look, whereas serifs have a more classic look. Next, we’ll choose colors. Again, this is normally determined from the creative brief. Lastly, we’ll have specifications on how much of a percentage the logo and whitespace should take up in an ad. These elements of the style guide will ensure each and every ad, brochure and newsletter will have essentially the same look. You want the consumer to see your creative and instantaneously say, “Oh, I know this doctor.” That’s when you know your brand is recognizable.
Conclusion
Remember, there is a lot more to a brand than a logo and an advertisement. Everything and everyone in your organization needs to have the same goal and spread the same message. By implementing the strategies above, you can create a brand image that will connect with people and build a stronger practice for the future.
Paul M. Stubenbordt can be reached at Stubenbordt Consulting Inc., 1725 E. Southlake Blvd., Suite 101, Southlake, TX 76092; 817-416-2010; fax: 817-416-2070; e-mail: paul@refractiveconsulting.com; website: www.refractiveconsulting.com